Monday, 30 September 2013

Farewell to the Lindisfarne Gospels

It's past ten o’clock on the last day of September. The
doors of the Lindisfarne Gospels exhibition Durham have
closed for the last time. 100,000 people have passed through them in the
last three months. Many have spoken
about how inspired and delighted they were by what they saw. I want to pay
tribute to colleagues at Durham University and here at the Cathedral who have worked so hard to make this summer
such a huge success.

The Cathedral worked closely with the University on this
project, and as Dean I served on the project board. We were clear that
we wanted the Gospels to come back not simply
to Durham but to the North East. And this is one of the great achievements of
the summer. It has seen an amazing outburst of creativity right across the
region with local communities entering into the spirit of the visit with great
enthusiasm. There have been celebrations of the Gospels’ art and design, their place in English civilisation and in the history of the book, their symbolism for the North
East’s identity and character. Was ever a
book so much loved and welcomed back to its historic homeland?

Local churches have played a leading part in this celebration of our Christian
heritage. At its heart, this has been an invitation to discover the gospel
message in the four gospels. There have been study groups, public readings
of the gospels, special acts of worship, pilgrimages to places associated
with the saints of the region, lectures and talks, exhibitions and displays,
temporary art, street theatre, creative play and themed
entertainment.This has stimulated adults and
children not only to learn about their heritage but to read the gospels with a
new awareness. The Cathedral has welcomed thousands of people to its own lively
programme of events throughout the summer, culminating in an unforgettable
flower festival to celebrate the Lindisfarne Gospels, the northern saints and
our life together in the North East today. A Roman Catholic newsletter spoke about how the
Cathedral was rising to the challenge of using the Gospels’ visit in an evangelistic way. That pleased us
because it recognised the true nature of the ‘gospel-work’ we were trying to
do.

Yesterday, I went to Holy Island to preach on the last
Sunday of this summer of celebration. It is always moving to walk where
Cuthbert walked and pray where he prayed. To do this while the Lindisfarne
Gospels were in his native Northumbria added its own richness to the
experience.I spoke, as I have done all
summer, about why this celebration should matter to us, and what we have
learned about the Manuscript, the Man in whose honour it was written, and the
Message of the Gospel Book both then and now.

I said that what the summer has helped us to do is to understand this great book in
the setting of Saxon Christian Northumbria, and specifically, Cuthbert’s shrine. This linkage was fundamental to its meaning
throughout the middle ages: it would have been unthinkable to separate the saint from his book. Severed from this environment, it acquired
different linkages and has come to be read in new contexts. It’s not that these are less
'valid' than the original Cuthbert context. But the intellectual case for
bringing the Gospels back to Durham was to enable us to hear them speak with
their original northern accent once again.

In the south aisle of the church on Holy Island stands Fenwick Lawson’s
powerful sculpture ‘The Journey’. It shows the monks of Cuthbert’s community
carrying his body (and by implication the Gospels) on its 120 year journey that
would end on the peninsula of Durham. I thought about the journey the Gospels
had made to come to Durham and be reunited with their saint, and how it was now
time for them to make the return journey back to London.The Gospels have always travelled; now they are setting off on yet another valedictory journey. We all hope they carry a return ticket.

On Palace Green tonight, I talked to one of the security
guards who had done duty outside the library during these three months. He told
me how much it had meant to him to be doing his bit to care for this precious
book, how sad he would be to see it go.Like Cuthbert, the Lindisfarne Gospels touch ordinary lives in ways that are both moving
and inspiring. They have certainly touched mine.

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About Me

Lives in retirement in Northumberland. Was Dean of Durham 2003-2015; before that, in cathedral and parish ministry, and in theological education.
Ponders and writes on faith, society, the North East, arts, books, Europe and anything else that intrigues.
My Durham Cathedral blog to 2015: http://decanalwoolgatherer.blogspot.co.uk.
This Northern Woolgatherer blog from 2015: http://northernwoolgatherer.blogspot.co.uk.
My archive of sermons and addresses: http://northernambo.blogspot.com.
Tweets at @sadgrovem.